Ian Hands-Portman

I’m Ian, my day job is making small things look very big with the aid of huge microscopes. Mostly the small things are viruses and enzymes, occasionally they’re weird things like pieces of rock from Mars, dog hairs or samples of ice cream. As electron microscopes weigh several tons and my other confocal microscopes use deadly lasers I do other things when I’m let out in public.

I’m a STEM ambassador, Slime mold evangelist – seriously, these guys make amazing pets and regularly take part in outreach events such as the Cheltenham Science Festival and the Big Bang Fair. I’ve even been known to turn my hand – and my mouth to stand up comedy.